Standing down as an MP: a user’s guide
There has been a lot of talk recently about MPs “standing down”: leaving Parliament voluntarily for one reason or another, and after varying lengths of service. I have twice left Parliament, firstly in 1997 as a Tory victim of the Blair landslide election, and secondly retiring in 2019 because of Brexit. With the benefit of this experience — thirty-two years as an MP and eleven as a minister — I hope the following might be a helpful guide to those contemplating leaving Westminster.
Election defeat
Defeat in an election is far the best way to leave, strangely enough. It is the cleanest and most democratic, the decision of an electorate probably wanting to make the change of Government which is so vital from time to time in our system. You feel you have “died with your boots on”, not sought a safe passage to another constituency, and you can forever look others in the face as having suffered for your cause. And of course, you know that you personally won your seat in the first place; but it was lost because of your party/government/leader or whatever. But it was never, ever your fault. This matters!
The decision
If you are not to suffer election defeat, you risk leaving the Commons either too late, having gone beyond your use-by date and become a “bed-blocker”, or going too early and regretting it for the rest of your life. Choosing the right time to leave a constituency which has supported and elected you, perhaps many times, is as traumatic a decision as any you will make in your life. Do not short-circuit your decision making. Involve all those who have supported you, particularly your closest family, who will have given up a great deal to allow you to follow your dream. It will affect them too.
Search yourself well. Understand what you may be giving up. You will never, ever, have the same platform that you are relinquishing. You will never again be the person you are now. Your life is currently synonymous with your role; it is not all about you. Recall all that you came in to achieve and speak out for. That voice will be missing on a unique stage in the UK. Are you sure?
Onlookers should be aware that, in my view, the job is harder now than when I was elected forty years ago. I look at the abuse on social media, and the sheer volume of expectation and scrutiny of MPs and Government from a twenty-four hour media cycle whose job is to highlight what is wrong, not what is right, and I wince. I served in Social Security and Health ministries, which were tough enough. And you simply did not know what it would be like, until you became an MP. If this is driving your decision to stand down, I understand.
Opposition
But please do not leave if you are simply avoiding Opposition. Opposition is a vital part of our democracy — it hones Government. I returned to Parliament in 2001 deliberately to be part of an Opposition, having been a Minister from 1992-97, and never regretted doing so. Cycles in politics need participants. If your determination is public service, not self, think about this issue very carefully.
Bargaining
If you are stepping down from what is laughingly still known in the trade as a “safe seat” (spoiler alert: there aren’t any), you may want to exercise some bargaining power. Check to see if any favoured spad is looking for a seat and had an aunt/grandad/pet from within fifty miles of your constituency. Could be that you and the Chief could come to a deal about you stepping down, allowing a grateful nation to bestow upon you the ermine/other that your service merits. Or they may just want you to push off. Either way, if you don’t haggle, they may not knock on your door later.
Principle
If you are leaving because you and your party have come to the end of the line on a matter of principle – be very sure. Policy changes over time, and you will not be there to make your case. Are you sure about this? This is toughest of all, risking a ripping up of what may have been the essence of your professional lifetime. But if you believe you are being asked to do something, advocate or propagate something in which you just do not believe, it would tear your heart out to be someone you are not. It might be time to part ways.
But, in the wee small hours of the morning, you will need the rightness of that belief to shield you against the thoughts that cascade through your mind. You do not lie awake and think of all you achieved; you think of all the things you got wrong, the speeches you did not make, the things you could have done — and now cannot do, nor will ever do again. You had better be very, very certain.
New life
If you do leave Westminster before retirement, your life will never be the same, and you must accept this, and set about something different. You will find new, welcoming communities and a chance to be involved further in things which matter to you. Be proud of having been an MP, though only those close to you will actually care. Keep in touch, trying to avoid becoming David Brent around Portcullis House, if you can.
PS You may dream about the place from time to time. This is entirely normal.
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